Andy Jones’

 

A PUPPET SHOW for All Ages

A Traditional Newfoundland Fairy Tale

Told by ANDY JONES

With Puppets by DARKA ERDELJI

 

Length:  Approx. 30 minutes + optional 20 minute Q&A

Suitable for ages 3 – 93!

 

Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, not in your time, indeed not in my time, but in olden times, when quart bottles held half a gallon and houses were papered with pancakes and pigs run about with forks stuck in their backs seein’ who wanted a slice o’ ham, there were two old people and they never had no children, and they figured they were too old to ever have any.

 

So begins Andy Jones’s wonderful new adaptation of a traditional Newfoundland tale. Of course, it’s clear from the story’s beginning that there are children on the way, and one of those children is Jack, the delightful, mischievous, big-hearted hero of so many Newfoundland tales. Told with the humour, warmth and sly wit that have made Andy Jones one of the Island’s finest and best-loved storytellers, THE QUEEN OF PARADISE’S GARDEN follows Jack on his way to the land of the Queen of Paradise, where he searches for a magic fruit to make his parents young again, and finds quite a few other handy things as well.

 

The show features puppets by Slovenian Theatre Artist Darka Erdelji, who has her Masters in Puppetry and Andy Jones tells the story of Jack in the Queen of Paradise's Garden. "Jack" is a well-known figure in traditional Newfoundland fairy tales - (Jack Meets the Cat, Jack and the Three Giants, Little Jack the Little Fisherman, etc..) and these are stories which Andy has learned over the years from an older generation of Newfoundlanders that he turns into wonderful theatrical storytelling productions. The Queen of Paradise's Garden was originally told to Andy Jones by Albert Heber Keeping of Grand Bank, Fortune Bay. (Albert Heber keeping learned the story from Billy Quann of Sagona Island, Fortune Bay.) So, the tradition continues!

This show has been performed across Newfoundland since JANUARY 2009, and is now available to tour.